Tropical Cyclone Debbie was the most dangerous cyclone to impact Queensland since 2011 and left more than 50,000 customers without power over an area of 120,000 square kilometres. Power distribution company, Ergon Energy, suffered severe damage to its electricity network and its recovery efforts were further complicated by widespread flooding and debris that impacted site access.

Within 24 hours of the category four cyclone making landfall on Queensland’s northern coast, Fugro deployed its airborne system, Roames, to detect and model damage to assets with centimetre accuracy. The highly automated cloud processing system enabled Fugro to deliver damage assessments to Ergon within 10 hours of surveying.

Downed poles and wires were automatically flagged and pin-pointed in an online webmap application. The reports assisted Ergon to assess the damage to deploy field resources effectively to optimise recovery efforts.

“Our Roames solution is a key element of our services for the power transmission and distribution industry. This work in response to Cyclone Debbie demonstrates the effectiveness of an integrated technology operation,” said Fugro’s Jared Baronian. “It is highly rewarding to know that within a matter of hours, Ergon was able to apply the results of our survey to prioritise, direct and task their field response crews.”

Fugro monitors Ergon Energy’s one million spans of network on a yearly cycle allowing clear pre- and post-disaster differentiation. The Roames service is currently available in Australia, Europe and the United States.